Let me first preface this with a few things.
First, I am not a game designer - I am simply someone who plays a lot of games. I am a metagamer, in that I tend to look for mechanics that allow you to stretch what is possible in games for some advantages. I am not a metagamer in that I do not exploit mechanics to engage in godmode.
Secondly, this is opinion based on experience. As I am not an expert any more than any gamer can be without having design training, some of what I suggest may not be expressed in terms actually used in the industry. However, I believe that the general concepts contained herein are germane, as they are based on what works in other games, that not only do I enjoy, but manage to create and retain new subscribers without the novel gameplay and fantastic artistic concepts utilized in AO.
This third point is, of course, silly for me to put here, since this is an MMO forum and no one, not even me, will heed it. Please be constructive. Flame me if you must, but let others post in this thread without fear of "death by troll".
As well we all know, AO, and Funcom in general, are facing some real problems. As I have no experiences whatsoever in finance, I am going to focus on the problems inherent in AO and it's draw to both new players, and it's retention of veterans.
First, THE BACKGROUND.
AO was designed in the halcyon days of MMOs, when solo and team play consisted primarily of enjoying the gameworld and sort of randomly going around doing things. Exploring dungeons, killing dynas, and generally mucking about. A few quests here and there provided structure, but it was truly part of the original "open world" generation of games.
Over the years, different content teams and designers have tacked on various structured dungeons, endgame encounters, and questlines, that almost, but not quite, kept AO on par with newer titles in terms of providing a structure for players to grow upon. The problem with true open world play is that it provides no such structure, and relys heavily on players and third party websites to tell you about the game, what gear you need, and what to go and do with yourself.
These same teams have also been incredibly lax about the ingame economy, as well as the rarity and desireability of certain items. Lootright selling, multibox instance farming, and outrageous pricing have come together to create the perception in new or even returning players that the game is rigged towards those who have capital to spend.
I don't blame them for this - many have been chosen from the community, and it seems AO was an early/first MMO for many of them over the years - now, community members can turn out to be great coders, content designers, artists, and even team leads, but what most lack is a true interest in the metagame, and a big picture view that can identify what the problems are AND how to fix them.
They don't seem to look to succesful MMOs on how to improve the experience in AO - or at least, don't see how to apply these systems, perhaps thinking that AO is somehow too unique to support these systems.
That is false. Many of the game systems at this point are quite capable of handling newer teaming, raiding, and questing mechanics. They just haven't been used in that capacity.
The problems with the economy, player retention, new player aquisition, dearth of content, these are all symptoms of the larger problem - and can all be fixed given a clear goal and procedure to do so.
Continued in next post: